Out of the Past
"Out of the Past" is the fifth episode of the third season of . It initially aired on October 21, 2000. At a time when Bruce Wayne is feeling his age, a woman from his past appears and offers him the chance to regain his youth. Plot Terry takes Bruce out on the town for his birthday, including a performance of "Batman: The Musical." Bruce is unimpressed, and leaves in the middle of the performance. makes Bruce an offer he can't refuse.]] In the Batcave, he looks at some pictures of the women in his life. Then one of them appears in person: Talia, as young and beautiful as ever, wishing him a happy birthday, and mildly surprised that he doesn't have a picture of her as well. Terry arrives back, and they are introduced. Bruce asks her why she is there. Talia admits that she has made free use of her father's last Lazarus Pit, and now she wants to offer it to Bruce: a chance to be young again. Bruce decides against it; it is both unnatural and unfair to others for him to artificially prolong his life. Talia says that no one has earned it more; he has given up his whole life in service to others; and what's more, she wants a second chance to be with him. Bruce still refuses. In conversation with Max, Terry confides that he thinks Bruce is tempted to accept the offer. En route to Talia's hotel, Bruce's car blows a tire. He pulls over and slowly gets out to change it, feeling more infirm than ever. Then, a group of muggers try to rob Bruce, who fights them off in spite of his old age. Scared, one of the muggers grabs a nearby woman and tosses her to the middle of the street. Bruce tries to rescue her, but he is too feeble and falls down. Both are about to be flattened by an oncoming truck, when Batman arrives and saves them. Bruce bemoans his own helplessness. In Gotham Plaza, Bruce considers accepting Talia's offer. She proposes to merge their corporations, and thus broadening her philanthropy to other nations. Bruce accepts. .]] With Terry accompanying him, Bruce flies with Talia to her estate on New Cuba. Bruce still has some misgivings, but Talia soothes them. She notices that Terry also has doubts and assures him that Bruce will not be taking back the Batsuit even after the treatments are over. Bruce has his first exposure to the Pit; he is briefly driven mad by the process, but is quickly sedated. Talia tells Terry that it is not as bad as it once was. Terry doesn't look reassured. Talia explains that it will take several more treatments before the process is complete. Bruce now resembles a man in his late 40's: hair partially white, but possessed of a physique nearly as powerful as it was in his glory days as Batman. and his mentor fight side-by-side.]] As Bruce and Terry work out in the gym together, Bruce is briefly exhilarated at his feeling of power, but then he cracks and angrily says that he is cheating nature just like Ra's. He informs Talia's attendant, Carter, that they are leaving, but Carter makes it clear that they are prisoners. For one unique moment, Bruce and Terry fight side-by-side against the estate's thugs. Stopping outside Talia's bedroom, Bruce hears Ra's unmistakable voice coming from inside. Bruce breaks in and sees Talia, seemingly alone. He demands to know where Ra's is. Talia laments that she had hoped to keep this secret from him... then Ra's voice issues from her own mouth. Momentarily shocked, Bruce and Terry are overpowered. shows "her" true colors.]] Outside the estate, a pair of thugs are preparing to toss Terry into an alligator pond. However, he regains consciousness and overpowers them, then rushes back to the castle. Inside, Bruce awakens in restraints, hooked up to a device in the Pit chamber. "Talia" appears, and explains. After their last battle, his body was too injured even for the Pit to restore. In order to avoid death, he called on Talia to make the ultimate sacrifice: herself. Ra's had developed a computer allowing him to transfer his consciousness into another body, but it would only do so for someone who was a close genetic match (whether Talia gave up her life willingly or not is not explained). Now, however, he has refined the computer to remove this restriction, and he immediately hit on Bruce as the "perfect specimen." The entire scheme was a ruse to make Bruce's body ideal to house Ra's spirit (Ra's also reveals that the incident with the tire and the mugger was staged). Once the transfer is complete, Ra's will reappear in Gotham, as Bruce and Talia's long-lost son, making him the heir to Bruce's fortune and company. and Batman elude death.]] Terry, now donning the Batsuit, enters the Pit chamber in time to interrupt the mind transfer. Ra's attacks with a sword. He inadvertently stabs an electronic panel, electrocuting himself into unconsciousness, and starting a fire. Bruce breaks out from his restraints, and they both run out of the room, Batman carrying an unconscious Ra's. But Ra's wakes up and runs back in, shouting that he cannot let the computer be destroyed. Reaching the burning console, he activates the fire suppression systems, managing to keep the computer intact. gets closure.]]Then a stray electrical cable dislodged by the fire falls into the Pit... Bruce and Batman reach the outside of the mansion just before it goes up in a massive explosion. Batman wants to go back in to look for survivors, but Bruce says, "Whatever was in there, died years ago." Back in the Batcave, Bruce is looking at a picture of himself and Talia at a café. His body is gradually returning to its normal age, but he's not bothered by it. After Terry leaves on patrol, Bruce switches off the screen and says softly, "Rest well, beloved." Continuity * Before this episode, Ra's and Talia's last appearance in the DCAU was the episode "The Demon Reborn" after which both of their fates were uncertain. However, Terry makes reference to their last encounter being the "Near Apocalypse of '09." * The women whose pictures Bruce looks at in the Batcave before Talia's are Zatanna, Lois Lane, Selina Kyle, and Barbara Gordon. * In "A Touch of Curaré" Barbara implied that she and Bruce had once been involved. The pictures on Bruce's Batcomputer and Talia's line about her knowing he loved her corroborate this. * Talia says that Bruce saw the effects that the Lazarus Pits had on Ra's al Ghul. This refers directly to the episode "The Demon's Quest, Part I," in which Ra's emerged from the Pit and almost killed Talia in a fleeting insanity fit. Background Information Production Notes * The identity of the woman in the last two pictures of Bruce's files caused a great deal of speculation among fans, many of whom thought it to be Andrea Beaumont.http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=185807&highlight=Out+of+the+Past However, Paul Dini confirmed it to be Barbara, stating that "Andrea didn't make the cut as she murdered people".http://forums.toonzone.net/showpost.php?p=2217573&postcount=34 Production Inconsistencies * During the Batcave scene, Terry's Batsuit can be seen on display next to Nightwing's. However, that suit has always been regarded as unique, and in other episodes that display has been always empty. (This also occurred in "Eyewitness.") By the end of this episode the display is empty again. Trivia * This episode was nominated for a Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production.http://annieawards.org/29thwinners.html * The members of the musical chorus are clear homages to The Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Robin. * Adrienne Barbeau, the voice of Catwoman on and , has a cameo appearance as one of the chorus singers. * "Commissioner Gordon" is voiced by Charles Kimbrough, best-known as dour news reporter Jim Dyle on Murphy Brown, and recognizable to Disney fans as Victor, one of the gargoyles from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. * Though uncredited, Kevin Conroy also provided the voice of his on-stage double. This marks only one of two instances in the DCAU when Conroy has exhibited his fine singing voice, the other being the episode "This Little Piggy." * There were in fact plans to produce a ''Batman'' musical in 2002, to be directed by Tim Burton, the director of the 1989 Batman film, but it was scrapped. A partial book was completed, including a number of songs which can be heard on the Web. * It is also notable in that, during Bruce's brief rejuvenation, Conroy uses a different voice than his gravelly "old" Bruce voice. Will Friedle said the episode is one of his favorites for getting the opportunity to hear that voice (and for the one-off scene in which Terry and Bruce are beating up bad guys together). * During the Terry and Bruce team-up the futuristic theme previously played in "Disappearing Inque" can be heard. * Mark Hamill, the voice of the Joker, voices Carter, Ra's latest "Ubu." * Ra's alligator-obsessed thug is voiced by Michael Rosenbaum. * Terry initially pronounces Ra's name "Rahz"; Talia corrects him, saying it should be "Raysh." In the recent film Batman Begins, it was likewise pronounced "Rahz" and treated as correct. Cast Quotes Category:Batman Beyond episodes Out of the Past